Tag: Sandeep Sahu

The ‘Smart City’ had never seen anything like it before. Marooned people being rescued by fire and ODRAF personnel; bikes, cars and even buses with passengers floating in water bang in the middle of busy roads; people having to move upstairs after inundation of the ground floor and going without electricity, food and drinking water […]

As the sordid details of how gangster Syed Usman Ali alias ‘Tito’ built his Empire of Crime unravels layer by layer, it is becoming increasingly clear that the Kendrapara don flourished with active political patronage at every stage. The similarities of Tito’s case with the rise and fall of the Dhalasamant brothers, who ran a […]

When in trouble, tug at Odia pride. That was exactly what the president of the contractors’ association Prabhat Das was trying to do when he laid the blame squarely on the alleged love for non Odia contractors among officials and engineers of the Works department for the mishap at the Bomikhal overbridge last night that […]

To use a cricketing term, it came against the run of play. Just when detractors of Prasad Harichandan were beginning to reconcile themselves to working under him at least till the next elections came the decision to replace him with Niranjan Patnaik. By all accounts, even Patnaik appeared to have reconciled himself to having his […]

If the first one in 2016 was announced on TV by no less than Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the current round appears to be an ‘undeclared’ demonetisation. Mamata Banerjee’s claim about a ‘financial emergency’ in the country may be dismissed as political hyperbole. But there is little doubt that the cash crunch that has hit […]

As the spine chilling details of the Kathua gang rape case make it to the mainstream media, comparisons are inevitably being drawn with the horrific Nibhaya gang rape case of Delhi in 2012. But there are at least three reasons why the latest case is more abominable and a greater shame on humanity than the […]

There comes a time in everyone’s life when one cannot help feeling a little inflated. And let me confess today was one such moment for me. Addressing a motley crowd of journalism students, some of them older than me, at the Odisha State Open University in Sambalpur was certainly a privilege for someone who has […]

Yet another Utkal Dibasa is upon us. Like previous years, elaborate plans have been drawn up to celebrate the occasion. Most cities and town in Odisha are already wearing a festive look with colourful ‘Chinesse’ lights illuminating all government buildings and institutions. Social and cultural outfits too are organizing a host of events to mark […]

The much needed – and much delayed – second bridge on River Brahmani in Rourkela is fast turning out to be a joke played on the people of the Steel City on All Fools Day three years ago by no less than Prime Minister Narendra Modi. April 1, 2018, as ruefully pointed out by Rourkela […]

It is a sad day for cricket. And for the millions of fans spread across the world who love the beautiful game. There could well be people in cricket playing countries, especially those that have received a thrashing at the hands of the Kanagaroos over the years, who would be gloating over this moment of […]

At a time when the Congress is showing definite signs of a revival of sorts after being in the doldrums since the crushing defeat in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the party unit in Odisha paradoxically appears to be possessed by a death wish. The debilitating defeat in Bijepur, a seat won by the party […]

If Bijepur deflated the balloon, North East has pumped in fresh air. Just three days after the BJP was brought down to earth by the stunning defeat in the most high profile by-election in the state in recent memory, the commendable performance in four north eastern states, especially the stupendous victory in the Left bastion […]

With the high-voltage, bitterly fought Bijepur by-election over, the focus now shifts to the Rajya Sabha elections on March 23 in which three seats from Odisha would be up for grabs. Given the composition of the state Assembly, it is a foregone conclusion that all three who would replace Messrs AU Singhdeo, Dillip Tirkey and […]

It was my first ‘scoop’ as a journalist. Sometime in the summer of 1988, an acquaintance who was then a student of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), desperately sought me out. What he told me was startling. Question papers of the Plus Two examination, he claimed, were being sold openly in Khurda town. I asked […]

It has been two days since the BJD formally lodged a complaint with the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) accusing leading Odia TV channel OTV of peddling ‘paid news’ designed to favour the BJP and work against the ruling party in the run up to the Bijepur by-election. Over the last two days, I have been […]